Almost A Shocker

By Phil Hecken, on April 7th, 2013

By Phil Hecken

I hadn’t intended to write about the Wichita State Shockers today; in fact, I had intended the lede article to simply be a big collection of concepts and tweaks (and there are a ton of them, below). But the Wichita State Shockers get the lede today because they broke out a set of brand spanking new uniforms for their Final Four semi matchup against Louisville yesterday.

I know teams do get special tournament uniforms (like the ones Louisville has been wearing throughout the tourney), but is a brand new uniform being released in the middle of the tourney a first?

Overall, I like the numbers (I don’t like drop shadow), but thought the lower case, outlined Shockers (in some kind of italic font, no less) was a downgrade. In terms of Paul’s “good or stupid” scale, I’d say this was pretty much of a push. The gray/white stripes were ok, and what they replaced wasn’t any worse or better.

The Shockers jumped out to an early 8-0 lead, and held large leads throughout the game (including at the half), but in the end, Louisville was just too strong. Perhaps there was no magic left, or perhaps, buoyed by the support for injured teammate Kevin Ware, (who had a courtside seat throughout), Louisville was destined to reach the final. Couldn’t have been the unis, could it?

The set of tweaks & concepts below was going to be the lede for today, until Wichita State bumped it. But that’s OK (it’s a mega-set), because some of these are close to two months old — I do them as they come in, and I had a large set of submissions come in in mid-February, so, you get a treat today.

So, without further ado, here is a full post of reader concepts and descriptions.

. . .

We begin with Mark Rabinowitz who had participated in Paul’s redesign the Dolphins contest.

Phil,

Here is my concept for the Miami Dolphins. Unlike my approach to the Cleveland Browns, the more I thought about this one, the more I wanted to mess with it.

I’ve indulged in long explanations about what I did and why I did it with the Browns entry and last year’s Houston Astros contest entry, and this e-mail will be no exception. So here’s what’s different:

1. A new logo that’s fresh, yet still recognizable and consistent with previous Dolphins logos. I took the sunburst and stretched and skewed it (originally, I wanted to have the top part of the sunburst arcing across the side of the helmet, which is why I chose to isolate the sunburst in the first place). I also rotated the leaping dolphin to make it look like it’s at the height of its leap (and as a bonus, it now looks like it’s charging straight forward). Take a look at the helmet on the leaping dolphin. It has a repeat of the logo on it, not an “M”. I thought the reason they went with that “M” in the ’60s was that, at that time, it was too darn difficult to draw a dolphin inside the helmet on the dolphin. But with today’s computer technology, there’s no excuse for that cheesy “M”.

2. Back to the ’70s aqua/orange color scheme (the hue of aqua in my design was also used in ’91-96 when Jimmy Johnson was the Dolphins’ head coach). In the 1970s, the Dolphins went to the playoffs seven times, including both of their Super Bowl victories. The ‘Fins have not won a Super Bowl since 1973, and have not even been in the AFC Championship since 1992, so they might as well use the aqua they used at both those times. Also, navy blue is out. It should have been excised from the Dolphins’ unis after their atrocious 2007 season–the one where they were a hashmark away from being the first team in NFL history to go 0-16–just as black should have been eliminated from my Lions’ uniforms after they went 0-16 in 2008. (I even took it out of the leaping dolphin–in its place is the darker aqua the Dolphins have been using in recent years, because I however much I wanted to ditch the navy blue, I still didn’t want to lose any of the shading or the facial expression we have on the 1997-2012 the leaping dolphin.)

4. Aqua pants–last seen during the final years of the Don Shula era–are back (but only as part of an alternate set, and only then with white jerseys–I hate “unitards”)

* I never call them “the Fish”. As you know, Dolphins aren’t fish, they’re mammals!

All in all, I’m just as sure this entry will meet with the Uni-Watch community’s approval as the Astros concept did; I hope it meets with the Dolphins’ management’s wildest dreams as well.

In closing, thanks for pointing out the error in the leaked logo (the swimming dolphin in front of the sunburst). I’ll mention it in my blog entry tomorrow night.

Sincerely,

Mark Rabinowitz

. . .

Next up is Mark Lilley with some new looks for the Nuggets (and yet it’s 11 years old!):

Hi Phil,

I was cleaning out some old folders on my computer and came across these logo and uniform designs I did for the Nuggets way back in 2002! I still think they look good as is which tells me they would stand the test of time, and weren’t designed as a cliche or for the short term. I’ve always wondered why the franchise doesn’t use a more truer Gold color in their palette, instead, choosing to use yellow. Ick.

Mark Lilley

. . .

Moving on we have Bootheel Ben Traxel, with some (late) Browns contest entries:

Phil,

Browns redesign

I did these back before the deadline but didn’t turn them in for the contest because I never did a logo. Here you go anyway.

Traxel

. . .

Our next set of concepts comes from Dylan Desimine with his Phillies redux:

Phil:

Here’s an overhaul of the Phillies uniforms, mixing elements of their 50s/60s/70s/80s unis.

I always thought that their Liberty Logo never got enough love, so now it’s a main logo. I went back to their 50s script, which I think is their best look, but went with the 80s colors, because there are too many red teams out there and this gives them a little character. The alternates in the middle are just some interesting ideas I had, the road one inspired by a look they wore briefly in the late 20s & early 30s. The two on the right are their old 50s uniforms, a good look to be worn on Sundays.

Uni-tweaking is a small hobby I have, and I’ve been making tweaks/overhauls of all MLB teams. I may be posting a few more in the future.

I noticed it a decade ago and I just can’t un-see it. So, I photoshopped (really, I just used the “Paint” on Windows) it, inverting the eyebrows to make a meaner Bucks logo. Better, right?

Best,
Mike

. . .

And we’ll close down this mega-tweak/concept fest with a hockey redesign. It comes from Casey Wurzbach, and its for the Islanders:

Phil,

I found this concept I made for an Islanders third jersey. It’s dark blue and the sash represents their four cup wins. The script is off of one of their logos.

-Casey

. . .

And there you have it. A couple of weeks worth of concepts & tweaks in one shot.

“Free The Orange Caps” (and more)…

If you followed Uni Watch at all last year during the baseball season, and read the comments, you may recall that Jim Vilk singlehandedly spearheaded a campaign to get the Marlins to wear their orange caps. It didn’t happen often, and Jim was very disappointed. This year, some readers have begun to wonder if (and when) the Astros would break out their own orange caps. We didn’t have to wait long:

As a result, in a very unusual move, Barnsley was forced to wear the Crystal Palace change kit yesterday. And that, in and of itself, produced a very interesting matchup:

Yousa.

Who knew soccer could be so complicated?

If want to read more about this, click here or here. According to Sean, “First bullet point at the link is about the visiting team (Barnsley, in yellow in the pic) wearing the home team’s change kit (Crystal Palace, in blue and red) because the referee claimed Barnsley’s change kit was too similar. Seems to happen somewhere every few years. You can see both teams’ uniforms here”

. . . . . . .

Orange…and More Orange

Louisville vs. Wichita State wasn’t the only NCAA game in town last night. There was that other semi-final, between Michigan and Syracuse, for the right to play Louisville on Monday night. Although they were the home team, Michigan again chose to wear their maize whatever-color-adidas-calls-them unis versus the orange-clad Syracuse Orange.

Yep. I’m calling this now — next weekend’s #1 (for the good) in the 5 & 1 rankings — actually, he’ll probably put it behind Marquette/Syracuse, since he loves the Warrior Golden Eagles unis even more than Michigan’s. Still, wasn’t this color-on-color a beaut:

And, of course, not only did the Astros break out their orange Friday, and the Mets again broke out their orange-brimmed caps for the second time in three days on Saturday, but the Orioles broke out their own orange tops yesterday:

Orange. It’s clearly the new teal black. And we’re all the better for it.

Whew — that was a lot more than I’d planned on, but it was worth it. Right? Anyway, you guys have a great Sunday and upcoming week, and I’ll catch you next weekend.

105 comments to Almost A Shocker

I know teams do get special tournament uniforms (like the ones Louisville has been wearing throughout the tourney), but is a brand new uniform being released in the middle of the tourney a first?

I can’t speak for the men’s side of the bracket, but I know the UConn women did a similar switcheroo back in 1995 when they made the Final Four in Minneapolis. (It was the first iteration of their mid-90s Reebok set.)

Dave|
April 7, 2013 at 7:34 am |

What is Prince Fielder wearing under his uniform pants? Football pads?

He’s wearing those padded undershorts that are all the vogue in the NBA.

Coleman|
April 7, 2013 at 7:42 am |

I immediately thought of the UW community when I saw the Michigan/Syracuse matchup last night. Great game, both visually and athletically. Awesome stuff.

terribblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 9:08 am |

Yup, liked that we had color-on-color in the Final Four. I don’t think it’d happened since the 1993 Final.

Though the officiating reminded me why I don’t like college basketball as much as I used to.

Komet17|
April 7, 2013 at 8:05 am |

“The Shockers…held large leads throughout the game (including at the half)…”

Really? The score was 26-25 at halftime–I believe that’s the smallest lead a team can have and still qualify as a lead…

Phil Hecken|
April 7, 2013 at 9:25 am |

OK — that was a poorly written sentence. I knew it was a one point lead at the half. Just meant that they were not out of this game, and did hold large leads at certain points. The half was not one of those times.

John|
April 7, 2013 at 8:46 am |

WSU should’ve gone with what got them to the Final Four. Same thing happened to Kansas in ’86 wearing their red jerseys.

Ronnie Poore|
April 7, 2013 at 8:53 am |

re: Ben’s Browns redesign…love the top row! very cool. i really like the use of cream instead of white. nice touch. good work.

terribblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 9:01 am |

Couple of things about the Crystal Palace vs Barnsley snafu –

* Crystal Palace’s equipment manager went to the trouble of putting numbers and NOBs for Barnsley players. Seems like a whole lot of trouble when they could’ve gotten Palace to wear the yellow.

It would be unthinkable for Palace to wear their away kit. Superstition is such that wearing your own colours is important, and just because Barnsley had it wrong Palace would not bail them out.

I used to steward in the tunnel at Wigan, and one team deliberately warmed up at the normal Wigan end. The Wigan players sulked and moaned like anything. The hom team will always take the advantage, and if as in thi scase the visitors are inconvenienced then so be it.

terribblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 9:49 am |

Right, and ultimately, it’s the visiting team’s responsibility to bring non-clashing kits. Though it’s unfortunate that Crystal Palace’s blue/red scheme makes clashing more frequent, and Championship clubs don’t have the resources/commercial opportunities for a third kit.

But you’re right – that’s home field advantage for you.

Oh, and I would’ve loved to hear the pre-match tunnel banter before the cameras started recording everything and players were friends with each other.

George Chilvers|
April 7, 2013 at 2:24 pm |

Don’t believe that Championship teams are poor little amateurs. They don’t have the resources of the PL certainly, but they have plenty of money.

I’m pretty sure the Championship is the fourth richest league in the world, behind the Premier League, the Bundesliga, and Serie A. I read that a couple of years ago, so it may not still be accurate, but I’m pretty sure it’s richer than any league in France or Spain.

Sean|
April 7, 2013 at 3:30 pm |

Considering that Barnsley were wearing white shorts and socks, I wonder if they actually showed up in their home (red shirt) kit, which also clashes (red/blue v red). Either way, it’s surprising they didn’t plan for this, everyone knows everyone else’s home kits, all they needed was a white shirt, shouldn’t have been difficult for Nike to supply on short notice, hell, they could have just picked something up at a sport shop or online, but then we wouldn’t have these stories to chat about.

Sean|
April 7, 2013 at 3:41 pm |

Never mind, the Daily Mail article says they wore the blue and black.

terriblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 5:14 pm |

Cort/George:

Yeah, Championship is one of the richer and best attended leagues in the world (and I think Barnsley turned in a small profit last year). But I think there’s a gap between richer clubs, often with rich owners with Premiership ambitions, and clubs fighting relegation to lower divisions.

If I’m not mistaken, Barnsley is the fourth most glamorous club in Yorkshire, after Leeds United, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, so I can’t imagine there’s a huge market for a third kit.

But Sean is right – they knew this was going to be an issue when the season started. Surely they could’ve planned for this.

Jaffa|
April 7, 2013 at 11:41 am |

It’s not unknown though for a home team to wear their away kit in the event of a clash.

This happened to us at Hull City back in 2004/05 when Bradford City visited us with their black shirted away kit, which clashed with our black and amber striped home affair. We dutifully played the match in our sky blue away kit, our generosity didn’t do us much good mind as we went on to lose the match.

George Chilvers|
April 7, 2013 at 2:21 pm |

Exactly

Bromotrifluoromethane|
April 7, 2013 at 11:38 pm |

Showing my American ignorance here but I don’t exactly feel bad for the sponsor that lost kit time by not having the kits worn. I get that to the rest of the world having huge sponsor logos across the front is a sign of importance but to my American eyes it just looks like crap and looks much better when I see the kits without the sponsor logos on them (hear that NBA???). I’d be more likely to buy one without the sponsor.
Then again I also get the traditions and colors that stretch back decades or more than a century in some cases and all that but messes like this wouldn’t happen if the leagues learned something from the NHL who can wear team color (darker) at home and some sort of a white w/some team colors on the road. I know that would implode a lot of tradition and all that but it simplifies things and is much better than seeing teams wearing kits in horrible mint and pink and all that other stuff. But then again as an American my entire history of watching the sport consists of a few years in the 80’s watching teams like the St Louis Steamers, San Diego Sockers, Chicago Sting, and Baltimore Blast.

terriblehuman|
April 8, 2013 at 8:22 am |

I don’t think anyone is asking for sympathy or a telethon for the poor little sponsor. They’re just a player – not a particularly important one, but still a not-disinterested party.

Phil W|
April 7, 2013 at 9:12 am |

So Witchita State was wearing Jordan Brand unis for most of the tournament. The little insignia is a “Jumpman” logo that is supposed to mimic Michael Jordan (“Swingman” is the insignia for Nike’s Ken Griffey Jr. line). Here’s where it gets tricky (and someone other than me might have better info): according to Darren Rovell, the Shockers have an apparel deal with Nike but buy their uniforms from Jordan Brand (which to make matters more confusing, is a subsidiary brand of Nike). Rovell surmised on Twitter yesterday that Nike brought in the new uniforms yesterday for the Final Four because they didn’t want to miss out on the marketing opportunity (hence the swoosh). Please correct me if I’m wrong, but this is how it seemed to go down. The Jordan Brand/Nike relationship is a weird one — shoes and unis get crossed over A LOT.

terribblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 9:39 am |

Nike/Jordan relationship really is weird. I know North Carolina often wears the standard Nike template, but with the Jumpman logo.

Phil W|
April 7, 2013 at 10:37 am |

It’s funny — when the Jordan Brand was first started all of their PR materials went out of their way to show the companies as being two separate entities, but they’ve never fully cut the cord from one another. My favorite cross-over is in the cleat category, where they use Jordan Brand models for their players, yet put Nike soles/cleat plates on the shoes. They don’t even bother to remove the swoosh in some instances:

I would agree, they probably had this as a template because the black jerseys already had a little grey trim to them, which doesn’t make sense with WSU’s colors.

Sterling84|
April 7, 2013 at 9:34 am |

Good catch on the Bucks odd “eye brow” issue. In the sense that those lines look like sad human eye brows. Pretty sure they are INTENDED to delineate where the antlers begin though. And in that sense those lines are “correct”.

The Bucks logo is a hot mess though on many more fronts if you really look at it. The neck , shoulders and face are all of oddly human proportions, which would be a valid anthropomorphic Bango design choice if the rest weren’t hyper naturalistic.

It’s a sneaky-AWFUL logo when it comes down to it. Hate it. And they’re my favorite team too. Full disclosure.

It’s a word mark the school has been using for a few years. This link is to a T shirt the school’s website sells with the same word mark.

Ryan|
April 7, 2013 at 9:36 am |

Being a WSU alum and longtime follower, i know you can find a ton of merch for the Shockers with the Nike swoosh, and most of the players wear Nike shoes. There jerseys for probably the last 3 or 4 years have had the jump man logo. However, WSU does not have an exclusive deal with Nike. Their baseball unis are under armour and you can find a large stash of current and new merch by Under Armour, including basketball T’s and shorts. Both Nike and UnderArmour made Final Four shirts. One of the Final Four shirts that Nike put out for all four teams originally had Nike logos for the other three teams and the JumpMan logo for WSU in the photos, but they shipped with the swoosh.

The two-color spikes on the shoulders actually reminded me of the ones on WSU’s gold baseball unis, as you said, made by UnderArmour. I think Nike’s been hooking Shockers’ basketball up with new gear as they’ve gone deeper in the tournament. I don’t recall seeing the black and white warmup jackets until the last couple weekends.

Did you mean to use ‘Swingman’? That would be Junior Griffey’s version of the Jumpman (pictured) logo..

terribblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 9:41 am |

Swingman is also what adidas calls its line of NBA replica jerseys.

Phil Hecken|
April 7, 2013 at 10:27 am |

“Did you mean to use ‘Swingman’?”

~~~

No. Well, yes, I did mean to use it, but I didn’t know (which is why I put a question mark after it) if that’s what it was called. I’ve since learned through the comments it’s called the “Jumpman”. I knew it was related to Nike and that’s about all I knew (or cared).

I’m much more about how a uniform or jersey looks, than who sticks their makers’ mark on the chest.

/forgetting for a moment that Syracuse have white, navy and gray in their sartorial wardrobe

George Chilvers|
April 7, 2013 at 2:19 pm |

Technically no, because although it appears to be reported as such the referee won’t tewll a team what shirts they have to wear. They will tell them if they can’t wear a particular set.

In the Palace-Barnsley game the ref will have said they can’t wear the normal change, and as there was no alternative (other than going to a local sports shop) Barnsley will have asked Palace if they could wear their change strip.

George Chilvers|
April 7, 2013 at 2:20 pm |

“tewll” is of course an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “to inform or direct” ;)

Cort|
April 7, 2013 at 10:05 am |

The Phillies & Dolphins concepts are very nice. The Browns concept, while owing a lot to Northwestern’s new set, is interesting. I like the Nuggets design a lot – the basketball as chunk of hold gives new meaning to “handle the rock.”

The Islander concept does a good job of incorporating some traditional Islander elements, but the champions stripes look like tire treads, perhaps from the truck carrying their gear to Brooklyn.

Bob|
April 7, 2013 at 10:09 am |

I think the plan is for the Astros to wear the orange caps for Saturday home games.

Phil Hecken|
April 7, 2013 at 10:29 am |

Cool! Thanks — so, Houston, unlike the Marlins (and others), has some sort of planned uni-schedule? Be nice to see those caps more than just 13 times a season (assuming the Astros have 13 Saturday home games).

Do you know if it’s still the plan to wear the tequila sunrise BP top on Sunday?

Josh|
April 7, 2013 at 10:26 am |

Im really digging those Browns tweaks and the new Astros uniforms.

Alec|
April 7, 2013 at 10:44 am |

NHL presser right now for the 2014 Winter Classic, introducing sweaters for the classic & alumni games.

Alec|
April 7, 2013 at 10:58 am |

That’s a half hour I’ll never get back. 25 minutes of blahblahblah, 5 minutes of sweater.

Detroit alumni will wear the “home” version of the 2009 Winter Classic, the Leafs alum in their 80’s kit.

Winter classic is a color on color contest, with the Leafs in a beaut blue with their sleeve stripes running up to the elbow with the Wing’s is meh; Winged Wheel & Detroit wordmark.

Unfortunately, the Wings decided to stick with the Coffee Piss color. Yeah, they’re calling it “antique” instead of “vintage” now, but it’s still Coffee Piss to me.

The alumni uniform is so much better looking, since they’re not going with the Coffee Piss on that one.

Funny that they’re saying the Leafs’ alumni jersey is based on the “late 80s-early 90s” design, when that style was in use going back to 1970, really. They also had lace-up collars originally, dumping them for good in 1975, so if the alumni version has lace-up collars, then they’re not really throwing back to the late 80s (when we THOUGHT lace-ups were a thing of the past), then, are they?

Frank from Bmore|
April 7, 2013 at 10:47 am |

I wish the O’s would “Ditch the Black” jerseys and wOe’s caps and wear the Orange more. With the run up to the playoffs last year the stands were full of Orange, it is the people’s choice.

Orange happens to be my favorite color and it’s amazing to me how it became reviled in the 1990s (Broncos and Bucs dropped it as their primary color in the same year and it’s been de-emphasized or eliminated in several other uniforms — even the Flyers abandoned it as their primary color for a few years) and now it’s making quite a comeback. I’m always in favor of a bright pallet for sports in general, I think it hooks young kids and when you hook them young, you have the best chance of holding them for a lifetime.

It does seem like we’re seeing a minor resurgence of royal blue and Kelly green. Along those lines, first and foremost, I’d love to see the Eagles return to Kelly green.

I’m in a tiny minority, but I’d definitely take the Buccaneers in their old orange uniforms. To me, their throwbacks look great and really ID the team. Currently, when you see a quick batch of highlights, teams like the Bucs blend in with the Texans, Falcons, Jags, Bears, etc. and I scramble to figure out who I’m looking at in a way I didn’t have to a few decades ago. I understand few would agree with me, but I wonder if there might be some change on that over time.

Yes, I’d agree that there’s some real potential in combining orange and the pewter on the Bucs. I’ve played around with a few concepts along those lines and may try my hand at a formal Uni Concept submission that works with that basic color scheme.

Douglas King|
April 7, 2013 at 2:12 pm |

I think the black jerseys could stay but only as an away alternate (it works with the grey pants, not so much with the white pants, considering the jersey is devoid of white), and I would welcome the retiring of the O’s hats (or at the very least get rid of the orange bill for those).

I would love to see them wear the Orange alts more often; start wearing them on Fridays and Saturdays when at home, instead of just Saturdays.

Frank from Bmore|
April 7, 2013 at 7:28 pm |

Maybe if the black jersey said Baltimore. I don’t like that the O’s regulate when they were their alternates. I would like a little more anarchy.

Thanks, Dylan, for some excellent Phillies concepts. I’m a lifelong Phils fan and was coincidentally wearing a ’64 Johnny Callison jersey as I read today’s entry. I think the bright red looks quite a bit better than the dark red, myself — I agree it would give MLB as a whole more variety if the Phils switched to dark red, but I selfishly want the Phils to look better (and also look how they looked when I was growing up). But beautiful concepts and I’d especially love them to ditch the current ugly number font and go to your block numbers (or the numbering style of the ’50s-60s or even the ’70s-80s.

Joseph|
April 7, 2013 at 10:57 am |

According to Darren Rovell, Wichita State pays for its own uniforms, and wears Nike at home and jordan on the road. That might explain the new jerseys for the Final Four

Very nice Dolphins concept — I’m definitely in favor of ditching the navy blue and going with a lighter shade of aqua. The cream / tan on the Browns also looks great, I did a Browns concept that added tan, based on some great-looking tan team jackets the coaches wore a few years back. http://tombierbaum.livejournal.com/10447.html?mode=reply#add_comment

i like the idea behind the Browns redesign, just would like it to be more of an off white not a cream. it just needs to be a bit lighter

traxel|
April 7, 2013 at 5:42 pm |

Agreed. I did it in AutoCAD and can never quite tell how the color is going to turn out once I save it to a .pdf. Didn’t take the time to change it.

Geeman|
April 7, 2013 at 12:18 pm |

Syracuse-Michigan did look good last night. I bet Michigan stays with the maize tomorrow night, just like they did in the ’93 Final Four. Yellow or gold, along with gray or silver, are the perfect uniforms that can be worn for home and road.

I also love the Orioles’ and Astros’ uniforms. I wish the O’s would bring back the orange-front caps to go with that nice oranage jersey. The Orioles and Astros offer a lesson to those that want to change the Browns’ uniforms: You may end up changing them and making a splash, but eventually you will come back around to the classics.

terribblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 4:56 pm |

I think wearing maize in March (and early April) has been SOP for Michigan at least since the early-90’s. If nothing else, the players don’t forget what color they’re wearing with all the neutral court games.

Remember the 1982 final game when Fred Brown (?) of Georgetown passed to James Worthy? I believe he blamed it on wearing dark for the first time in the tournament.

Is it just me, or has that Nuggets concept been posted on here before? It seems oddly familiar.

opal|
April 7, 2013 at 12:22 pm |

“Aqua pants—last seen during the final years of the Don Shula era—”

Seeing as the Dolphins wore aqua pants LAST SEASON, which was 17 years AFTER Shula retired, it’s clear Rabinowitz is full of shit. If you can’t get even the most basic of details right, you have zero business designing ANYTHING, let alone an NFL uniform.

I think (hope?) that he’s trying to claim that the Dolphins previous uniforms weren’t actually aqua (despite being officially labelled as such), but some other greenish-bluish color instead, and that his uniform is a return to the classic color.

I don’t know, I think he does a pretty good job of talking up a bunch of various design elements as if they represent something epic when the real reason for their inclusion was simply “I thought it looked good”, which seems to be a standard for modern design – just look at how Nike or UnderArmor describe any new uniform they put out.

Thank you, The Jeff, that is exactly what I was saying–that the last time the Dolphins used pants in the same “classic” hue of aqua that they used in the ’70s was in 1992, not the darker aqua they started using in 1997.

Johnny O|
April 7, 2013 at 12:30 pm |

The Brewers will be sporting their “lager” colored uniforms for the mid day tilt against the D-Backs today.

Phil Hecken|
April 7, 2013 at 1:12 pm |

OMFG…no, not Paul’s column

The Marlins DO have a top other than their black (and here’s a hint — it’s not gray).

Yes, the Marlins are wearing Orange Tops at Shea today. Opposing the Mets in their two tone caps and snow whites.

Wheels|
April 7, 2013 at 1:56 pm |

I like how the orange tops say Marlins, rather than Miami found on all their other tops.

ChrisH|
April 7, 2013 at 5:38 pm |

You know what would look great paired with those orange jersey?

Take a guess…

Graf Zeppelin|
April 7, 2013 at 1:18 pm |

Looks like the alt caps are going to be habit in day games with the whites. If that’s the way they want it, fine. Just don’t wear them with the pinstripes and don’t wear them on the road.

Steve D|
April 7, 2013 at 5:57 pm |

The hat looks pretty good in closeup interview shots…doesn’t look so great in game action or if you are at a game, where the white muddies the look. I do think they are wearing it too much though. They will really look bad with road grays, I agree.

Ben D.|
April 7, 2013 at 1:58 pm |

Here’s my random Final Four observation: That slogan printed on the court, “THE ROAD ENDS HERE.” I believe they started using that slogan for the 2009 Final Four in Detroit. That’s also the only time it’s ever made sense (Road, Motor City, get it?)

terriblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 5:25 pm |

Reference to Atlanta gridlock?

Speaking of NCAA sites, is “North Texas” what we’re calling the Dallas suburbs now? Couldn’t they have gone with “Fort Worth-ish” or “Metroplex” or “That One Area with All the Strip Clubs”?

DJ|
April 7, 2013 at 5:50 pm |

“North Texas” is a term similar to “South Florida,” I guess.

terriblehuman|
April 7, 2013 at 8:22 pm |

I guess so, but I’m a little surprised – I expected “Arlington, TX”, because NCAA is usually specific about Final Four sites.

Although the sports world generally reduces, say, the western Florida metro area to “Tampa Bay”, NCAA goes with “St. Petersburg”, and that swampland outside of New York City is “East Rutherford, NJ”, not “North Jersey” or “New York/New Jersey”.

Now, I don’t live in Texas so I wouldn’t know, but “North Texas” isn’t something I see often. Though “Dallas-Fort Worth” obviously wouldn’t have made sense when the stadium isn’t in either city.

Paul Lee|
April 7, 2013 at 2:04 pm |

Logistical problems arise with the Denver Nuggets concepts whenever they visit Los Angeles. Same problems occur against other teams wearing yellow or gold at home that night, e.g., Indiana and Cleveland.

Again, as with the Brewers, there’s still a possible “throwback exception”. The Indians are probably lying, but they haven’t been 100% debunked yet.

Padday|
April 7, 2013 at 3:08 pm |

Let’s see what happens when the Rays break out their 70’s fauxbacks seeing as they’re an alternate option this year. They are definitely not “throwback exceptions” yet they came last year with their own batting helmets.

Sam D.|
April 7, 2013 at 6:55 pm |

I think everyone should ignore the “one helmet” statement. It looks like the guy who said it had no idea what he was talking about.

Bromotrifluoromethane|
April 7, 2013 at 11:55 pm |

My biggest issue with the block C for the Indians is it just looks absolutely horrible. Bring back the 1994 uni set and go with that C on the hat if they want to use a C. Or at least add a white outline to the red block C to make it pop a bit more…

And I’m too lazy to go back a few days to find the article but unless I’m wrong didn’t one of the articles on the Cardinals road hat mess have a quote from the team (or someone, I’m way too tired to be lucid) stating that they have a set of blue helmets ordered and in stock and just needing to be sized if they do as they should and break out the blue hats on the road again?

Phil Hecken|
April 8, 2013 at 12:09 am |

“if they do as they should and break out the blue hats on the road again.”

~~~

God no. At least go a season with the beautiful red caps and see how it looks. They don’t need a blue cap (at all) and should stick with that classic red.

IF…they were willing to wear stirrups and wear blue sleeves and belts, then maybe they should go with the two-tone cap…this one. For, ya know, this guy.

Bromotrifluoromethane|
April 8, 2013 at 12:47 am |

I’d rather the all blue but for this season I’d be OK with that two tone one. The only way that red on the road would look good to me is if it was paired with a Cardinal red softball top. Of course I don’t hate the softball tops so that would still be a win for me even if they kept the red hats. LOL

Steve D|
April 7, 2013 at 3:04 pm |

Phil,

What’s with the staggered basketball dividing lines in the column? Yesterday it was baseballs. Is this permanent? It is kind of obtrusive…just my opinion.

ChrisH|
April 7, 2013 at 5:26 pm |

THANK YOU Astros (and Jim Vilk and Phil!)!

Now, about those helmets…

Sam D.|
April 7, 2013 at 6:54 pm |

Michigan has always been known as the “maize and blue.” It has nothing to do with Adidas.

Phil Hecken|
April 7, 2013 at 7:08 pm |

Well, I know Michigan’s colors are “maize and blue” — but apparently when Nike had the Michigan contract, they were able to “patent” the color, which is patently ridiculous. But…apparently it’s true. So, the “official” uniform colors, according to adidas, are now “sun and blue”.

That’s why I wrote it that way…

Sam D.|
April 8, 2013 at 10:13 am |

Wow. That’s horrible.

Matt D (the other one)|
April 7, 2013 at 7:13 pm |

The women’s final four court is a design atrocity.

Phil Hecken|
April 7, 2013 at 7:48 pm |

…aaaaaaaand, the Astros ruined an otherwise gorgeous sartorial weekend by breaking out the ‘Tequila Sunrise’ softball tops today. And lost.

Stick to the orange jerseys, and orange caps, Houston, and you’re A-OK with me.

Bromotrifluoromethane|
April 7, 2013 at 11:58 pm |

I could go either way on them. Don’t love them or hate them. but I don’t like the narrow pants piping with the side panels. Either carry it through the pants or have a solid pant w/o piping.

Jacob|
April 8, 2013 at 12:12 am |

I had a chance to talk to Astros outfielder Justin Maxwell – one of the few dedicated high cuffers on the ‘Stros – during Spring Training.

When I asked if he was going to break out the orange socks, he said he would, but that the club “hasn’t ordered them, yet.”

Yet.

Michae|
April 8, 2013 at 5:14 am |

My guess those were Whitcha States new unis for next season but Nike let them have them early. (they did that a few years ago when Mizzou made the Sweet 16.) There was NO WAY Nike was going to let those road unis with their inconsistencies & decfects be worn in the Final Four. The other possibility is they started working on them when they made the Sweet 16 for the Final 4 &/or next season.

John|
April 8, 2013 at 8:17 pm |

Any word on why some of the Wichita St. players had Final Four patches on those new jerseys, and some didn’t? Perhaps an oversight or due to the rush on getting the new unis to them on time? But this was also the case for a few guys on Syracuse as well. Also it looked like some of Louisville’s patches were sewn on pretty haphazardly. Did anyone else catch this?

ed|
April 8, 2013 at 11:06 pm |

In the Mariniers home opener today HP umpire TOny Rondazzo has electrical tape over the logo of his chest protector

No inside info or anything but I’m about 120% that this was all Nike’s idea but the school had some say so. In a sense this makes total sense from a brand stand point. (having everything look the same)

Personally I thought they looked great. Change out the gray (or is it grey) striping with yellow and we’re good to go.